Fermata Thin Air

The Fine Arts Library is proud to exhibit the work of artist Dennis Harper. Suspended above the current periodicals shelves is his sculpture "Fermata Thin Air". Made almost entirely of Foam-core (thin sheets of styrofoam with paper covering both sides), the piano weighs a mere 35 pounds! The work has graced the 3rd floor of the FAL since 2004. From the mid 1970s through the early 80s Harper worked for Oat Willie's Department Store Inc. (a manufacturing and distributing company not associated with Oat Willie's Head Shop), as a product designer, graphic artist, and advertising designer. Harper and Jay Gaulding then opened a head shop called Chicken River Trading Company in Las Vegas, New Mexico and soonafter opened satellite shops in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico as well. In 2008, Harper's "Fermata" was one of fourteen winners of the International Sculpture Center's Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award. In 2009, Dennis Harper received an M.F.A. at the San Francisco Art Institute. Dennis grew up in Los Angeles and attributes his aesthetic sensibilities to a thoroughly Southern California enculturation. He lives in Austin, TX and is a member of Box 13 Art Space in Houston, TX. photos and design by Mark Doroba